Farmers Open: Mickelson returns to site of first pro win

Phil Mickelson hits from a fairway on the fifth hole during the first round of the Humana Challenge golf tournament at the La Quinta Country Club in La Quinta, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
— AP

Phil Mickelson hits from a fairway on the fifth hole during the first round of the Humana Challenge golf tournament at the La Quinta Country Club in La Quinta, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
/ AP

As you can imagine, the victory a popular one in San Diego. Local kid makes good. Former Union-Tribune sports writer Hank Wesch walked Torrey South, catching up with family members along the way.

“When Phil was just a little guy, he was a strong-willed child,” said his mother, Mary that day. “And he’d sit and watch this tournament on television and say, ‘Mom, some day I’m going to be in that; some day I’m going to win it.”

“Once a few putts fell, you could sense him getting momentum,” Mickelson’s father, also named Phil, told Wesch. “He’s played this course a lot of times and he plays it well.”

As he did then, Jim “Bones” Mackay still carries Mickelson’s sticks.

“He’s in control,” Mackay said the day of the victory. “About halfway through the front nine (on Sunday) he said, ‘Let’s start walking a little slower. Let’s enjoy the day.”

Outside of Mickelson, maybe no one has enjoyed that victory more than his father. In addition to a $180,000 check, Mickelson won a Buick Park Avenue, which he passed along to Dad.

In January of 2000, with 130,000 miles on the car, the elder Mickelson contemplated an upgrade. But with the Buick Invitational around the corner and his son’s track record, both as a golfer at Torrey and in the generosity department, father waited.

“Don’t jump the gun,” he told himself.

You guessed it. Mickelson won the tournament for the second time and passed the car onto his father.

“It’s cool,” said the golfer.

“He’s kept his mother supplied in a Lexus,” said the father.

Twenty years is a long time. Mickelson’s oldest daughter, Amanda, is a teenager now. His wife of 16 years, Amy, and Phil’s mother have battled breast cancer. Phil has fought arthritis.

But he still remembers that first win as a professional. You never forget.

When asked what it felt like walking up the 18th fairway 20 years ago, Mickelson thought of his best friend, Amy.

“I had Amy there and we had just met not too long ago, just a few months prior,” he said. “Yeah, it was a special time, a special feeling.”